FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TROY BROUWER - PAGE 2

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was a rags-to-riches weekend for Troy Brouwer , and that was before the Blackhawks winger and his teammates reached Las Vegas for a little respite during their six-game road trip. Brouwer went from riding the pine to riding high over the course of back-to-back games, and the Vancouver native hopes to build on the latter when the trip continues Wednesday night against the Sharks. During the Hawks' 7-2 defeat to the Flames on Friday night, Brouwer was benched by coach Joel Quenneville for much of the game after committing a first-period turnover that helped Calgary get off to the races.

The team that will defend the Stanley Cup has taken shape. One of the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place Monday when the Blackhawks sent 19-year-old training camp sensation Jeremy Morin to Rockford of the American Hockey League. That meant Viktor Stalberg, who was acquired from the Maple Leafs in the Kris Versteeg trade this summer, fought off Morin's challenge for a forward spot. The 13 forwards currently on the roster that stands at the maximum of 23 healthy players are expected to be in Denver on Thursday when the Hawks open the season against the Avalanche.

With the Blackhawks minutes from falling a disastrous two games behind the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference semifinals, Martin Havlat came to the rescue. Trailing by a goal with less than three minutes remaining in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series Thursday night, Havlat rifled a wrist shot past Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo to lift the Hawks into a tie and Andrew Ladd scored 2 minutes 52 seconds into overtime to give the Hawks a 2-1 victory. The victory evened the series at 2-2 as it shifts to Vancouver for Game 5 on Saturday night.

Josh Harding made 44 saves, and Peter Olvecky snapped a tie early in the third period with his first NHL goal to help the Minnesota Wild beat the Blackhawks 2-1 on Sunday night. Dan Fritsche also scored for Minnesota, which was outplayed in the first half of the game, but rebounded to end the Blackhawks' four-game winning streak. The Wild's NHL-leading penalty kill snuffed all eight Chicago advantages. Jonathan Toews scored for the Blackhawks, playing just their second home game since Jan. 21. Cristobal Huet of the Blackhawks started his sixth straight game and made 22 saves.

The Sports Xchange Caps on roll heading into series with Bruins Despite all of their growing pains this season, the Washington Capitals enter the playoffs having won four of their final five games of the regular season and playing some of their best hockey. The Caps finished the regular season with a dominant 4-1 win over the New York Rangers, moving from eighth in the conference to seventh. They'll face off against the second-seeded Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The Predators were nowhere near out of their Western Conference quarterfinal opener Friday night against the Blackhawks, down just one goal. Still, apprehension was mounting until J.P. Dumont flicked the puck off-handedly toward the net. It bounced funny, pinged off a post and went in -- and suddenly all was well. "It definitely gave us a little jump, that's for sure," Dumont said of the third-period goal that opened the floodgates to a stunning 4-1 upset. "When I came back to the bench, I saw the guys were kind of relaxed."

Jonathan Toews' long wait finally ended. As did Ben Eager's even longer wait. The Blackhawks forwards returned to action Monday night after recovering from concussions. Toews missed six games after taking a crunching check from the Canucks' Willie Mitchell on Oct. 21. "I thought I might only be [out] a couple of games, and it went to four games and last week to six," Toews said. "It just kind of kept dragging out. You feel like you're very close to being 100 percent, but you know with any tiny, little symptom it's not good to go out there and try and play through it. You don't know what you're risking.

SportsDirect Inc. Recap: Capitals 5, Panthers 0 Capitals 5, Panthers 0: Troy Brouwer scored twice and Braden Holtby turned aside all 27 shots he faced for his fourth career shutout and first this season as host Washington emphatically snapped a three-game losing skid. Captain Alex Ovechkin netted his first even-strength tally of 2013 and Joel Ward and Mathieu Perrault collected a goal and an assist apiece for the Capitals, who have won nine of their last 10 home games versus Florida.

After failing to make the season-opening roster out of training camp, Troy Brouwer gave himself a little time to pout and then got down to business. He was recalled Tuesday from Rockford of the AHL. "It's always tough to get sent down," Brouwer said. "You kind of pout for a little while, but at some point you have to realize it's not doing you any good. And the only way to get back and get another opportunity is if you play well." That's what Brouwer did. In five games with the IceHogs, the 6-foot-2-inch, 213-pound winger had six assists, eight points, 20 penalty minutes and a plus-4 plus/minus rating.

Jermaine Dye has committed to attending this weekend's SoxFest at the Palmer House Hilton and is likely to stay with the Sox through at least the start of the regular season, pending any sudden trade proposals that appear too good for General Manager Ken Williams to pass up. Drew Gooden is seeing a doctor in Arizona for further evaluation of his left groin injury, coach Vinny Del Negro said, and will meet the team in L.A. "I don't know if he's...